Horneck Castle is also known as Burg Horneck, Deutschordenschloss Horneck and Schloss Horneck. A castle located in the town of Gundelsheim, district of Heilbronn,

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg ( ; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a states of Germany, German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million i ...

, in southwest

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. Its name is thought to mean "over the Neckar," as it is overlooking the

Neckar The Neckar () is a river in Germany, mainly flowing through the southwestern States of Germany, state of Baden-Württemberg, with a short section through Hesse. The Neckar is a major right tributary of the Rhine. Rising in the Schwarzwald-Baar ...

River.

History

The castle was built around 1200 and was given to the Teutonic Order by Konrad von Horneck in 1438, thereby making it the seat of the "Deutschmeister" (German Master) until it was destroyed in 1525 by fire during the

German Peasants' War The German Peasants' War, Great Peasants' War or Great Peasants' Revolt () was a widespread popular revolt in some German-speaking areas in Central Europe from 1524 to 1525. It was Europe's largest and most widespread popular uprising befor ...

. Despite reconstruction shortly after Horneck Castle's destruction, Mergentheim became the new headquarters for the

Teutonic Order The Teutonic Order is a religious order (Catholic), Catholic religious institution founded as a military order (religious society), military society in Acre, Israel, Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem. The Order of Brothers of the German House of Sa ...

in that region in 1527. , the castle was occupied by an altenheim (a nursing home for the elderly) as well as the Transylvanian Museum.

References

{{BadenWürttemberg-struct-stub Castles of the Teutonic Knights